Pickup
by Enigma Jade
Summary: Wedge has a talk with a friend.


Pickup

By Enigma Jade

Summary: Wedge has a talk with a friend.

Disclaimer: I don't own SW and profit nothing from this.

A/N: Set just prior to my headcanon "Journey's End" trilogy (which is WIP and may never see the light of day on paper). Certain truths from my headcanon/universe are that Luke has quietly been an NRI agent since the Rebellion and that Mara occasionally works as his partner since the after the Thrawn-era. 

Worry dogged Wedge Antilles' thoughts as he made his way down the frigate's corridors to the medical bay.

The Rogues had been tagged as escort to the small convoy out to the mid-rim, but other than routing a small band of pirates, there didn't seem to be much reason for the trip. The alliance general had to wonder if the week-long trip was just a fool's errand - until his comm had chimed on his secure line.

Rounding the doorway and crossing the small waiting room in a few quick steps, he opened the door to exam one. The faint smell of smoke filled the small room, soot covering clothes and gear dropped haphazardly to the ground on the way to the exam table. 2-1B was already alongside the patient.

Wedge let out an explosive sigh of relief seeing that the man seated on the table was not, in fact, nearly as hurt as imagined. "Boss," he said in greeting.

A wry smile from the man seemed to glow in a face blackened by smoke and grime. "Wedge, I haven't been your boss for years," Luke Skywalker said. "When are you gonna stop calling me that?"

"About the same time you stop getting yourself into situations like this. What happened?" he asked, giving the Jedi a thorough looking-over. Luke had stripped out of the scorched tactical jacket and undershirt, exposing the abrasions and cuts that 2-1B was currently tending. Exhaustion laid a heavy hand on his friend, showing the in the slump of shoulders and dark eyes. "I thought you were on Yavin?"

"Apparently not," came the dry answer. "Officially, I'm not here."

"Ah, of course not," Wedge said with a sigh and stepped over to the small 'fresher attached to the room. He wet down a towel, tossing it in Luke's direction. It was caught with a brief, grunted 'thanks'; Wedge filled a plastene cup with some water and handed it across after most of the grime had been wiped away and Luke had tossed the dampened towel around his neck. "You wanna tell me what you're 'not' doing here?"

"More of the same chasing ghosts as before," he said with a grimace.

Wedge frowned, noting the particular turn of phrase. During the war, Luke had often been asked to go on specialized missions for the military where a small, discrete task force was ideal. His skills with the Force, and a good bit of specialized training, had made him one of Intel's better Agents when something needed to be done quickly and quietly. Whenever Luke had needed to leave the Rogues under Wedge's command for any such mission, he'd used the phrase "chasing ghosts" for lack of any authority to divulge classified information about the actual mission. Wedge had assumed, however, that with resigning from the military, Luke had cut ties with Intel as well. "I didn't realize you'd started taking missions again."

"It wasn't something I'd planned on. There are. . . I started getting visions, and shortly after Harm started asking if I would go in the field again. Things are getting bad, Wedge," he said. "He's even asked Mara to run - and she's agreed."

"Jade?" Wedge's eyebrows climbed. "Working with Drayson? With you?"

"I was as shocked to hear it as you are."

"Must be bad, then." He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. Lately, Drayson and NRI had been hard at work trying to pin down the facts in a number of rumors surrounding a rather effective group of insurgents calling themselves the "Empire Incarnate", seemingly without much luck. His agents had been running themselves ragged following up on leads and informants. He knew that there had been multiple attacks, some very successful, against Republic-allied worlds. There was a general, creeping sense of unease spreading. Wedge had felt it in the military, seen it in the Palace halls when he came in for debriefing, heard it in the whispers in the dives and taverns in spaceports. He'd dismissed it as stress, as paranoia. Maybe he'd been wrong.

Luke twitched and hissed as 2-1B pulled another stitch across the slice in his side. "Please remain still, sir," the droid intoned, pausing briefly in its job.

The baleful look Luke sent its way set Wedge chuckling. "Really, though, what happened? I get orders to come hang in the middle of the black here, and you mysteriously show up for 2-1B to turn into a human pincushion. I got the call you were here and injured. . .a guy's gotta wonder."

"Just more information gathering. Harm's been pulling everything he has together, but there are some pieces that just don't fit. Frankly, I'm not even sure we even have the right puzzle yet." The quick, sideways glance the Jedi gave the med droid told Wedge volumes; Luke wasn't even sure that he could divulge information in its presence - just how much of a problem was there? He gave a short nod in response to the silent request, running hands through his hair.

Long familiarity led to a comfortable silence as 2-1B finished its ministrations. The cuts along Luke's side seemed like shrapnel wounds, irregular and peppered together. Between the soot and smoke, Wedge gathered some sort of explosion. Generally, his friend was able to complete missions without a soul the wiser, coming out without a scratch. There had been an obvious miscalculation evidenced in the haste he'd seemed to leave in. He had been roomed with Luke long enough in the rebellion to know that the pack and jacket slung onto the floor near the cabinets he leaned against were in complete disarray. Whatever happened hadn't been planned.

The door slid shut with a hiss and Luke stood, rotating his arm to work out stiffness in the shoulder. "I think NRI has a mole," he said without preamble, pulling his tank top back over his head. The momentary pause and intake of breath did not pass Wedge unnoticed. "This was supposed to be a quiet gather; sit in a few bars, hang around the spaceport, pick up a drop from a contact. No one was supposed to know that I was here, much less that there was an agent in the area."

Wedge looked up, startled. "They knew it was you, specifically?"

"They knew I was Force-sensitive at the very least. Several ships I was looking at were complete blanks, and the offices as well. Either there were ysalamiri or they've found some other way to block out the Force."

"Your students have been getting around, lately," he said. "Maybe just a precaution?"

A negative shake. "I was getting ready to head out and they were coming for me. Set fire to the apartment building that NRI had rented through the cafe below."

"Did they see you? Someone overhear the wrong question?"

"I hadn't been asking anything. I was still strictly on passive recon so they shouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary. My contact never showed. Either this was all a set-up, or he's dead in an alley somewhere." He frowned, obviously mulling something over. "They set fire to the building but they were using stunners."

A cold feeling settled in Wedge's stomach. "Are you sure?"

"Very."

"You're sure these are the guys that you were sent to gather intel on? You've made a lot of enemies in the past, Luke."

"I considered it, but it's been years since any major contender from my past has tried anything. No, this was too much of a coincidence. But if they're looking to take agents alive. . .that's a whole 'nother set of problems we didn't need."

"Was this Empire Incarnate?"

"That's the million-credit question, isn't it?" Luke asked sardonically. "It's certainly their style; I was looking for links between them and the local smugglers, pirates. There's been an upswing in activity there across the board. Page and Drayson think they're all connected somehow. There's a reasonable trail kicking around that a lot of funding getting to E.I. from a crimelord around this sector. Only problem is, no one knows what organization, or can figure out if this is one head or many. No one's been able to get a name yet. Last time I talked to Han, he said Karrde had feelers out but hadn't heard anything yet."

That explained where Mara Jade fit into things. As Talon Karrde's second-in-command, it was likely that she had access to information that standard NRI agents wouldn't have a shot at. The smuggler chief was a notorious information broker. If he didn't know anything about what was going on, that was frightening, indeed. He likely jumped at the chance to have a fly on the wall on the inside of NRI's offices. "I'll get you a secure line as soon as you've cleaned up some," Wedge said, giving his friend a quick once-over, "and rested. You're not fooling me at all, Luke."

"I'm fine. . ."

Wedge rolled his eyes and bent to scoop up the utility pack and jacket from the ground. He knew this routine. He'd find Luke some temporary quarters, just long enough for his friend to have a sanistream and collapse into a dead sleep for several hours while his body attempted to recuperate. "Come on," he said. The Jedi had just opened his mouth to protest, and Wedge stopped him, gripping his shoulder. "Don't argue. You're exhausted and hurting. You obviously took a glance from those stunners - your right leg is totally numb, isn't it?"

A laugh. "I never could get much by you, Wedge."

"Sometimes, boss, I wonder how you live without a keeper. Now be a good little Jedi and follow me or I'll send Wes in to sit on you."

"You're a cruel man, Antilles."

"I know, I know. Someone has to do it." The short walk to transient quarters was a limping, staggering affair that reminded Wedge all too much of returning back after one of the Rogue's parties. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn't help but grin. As he dropped both pack and Jedi onto the bunk he said, "Now, I don't want to see you until the end of my shift. I'll send word we've picked you up and your report will be sent later. Come find me later and we'll talk more."

"Sir, yes, sir," came the reply along with a jaunty salute.

Wedge turned to exit but turned back at the door. "And Luke. . ?"

"Yeah?"

". . .it's good to see you."

The smile that broke took years from the Jedi's face. "You too, Wedge. You too."


End file.
